Crime & Justice

Panel recommends parole for Manson family member Bruce Davis

This Dec. 22, 1970 file photo shows two members of the Charles Manson family, Bruce Davis, left, and Steve Grogan, leaving court after a hearing on the appointment of attorneys to represent them in Los Angeles, Calif. Forty years ago, Manson "family" members were kids. Vulnerable, alienated, running away from a world wracked by war and rebellion. They turned to a cult leader for love and wound up tied to a web of unimaginable evil, and now, on the brink of old age, they are the haunted.
Harold Filan
FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Bruce Davis. Davis, convicted with Charles Manson and another man in two murders unrelated to the infamous Sharon Tate murders, is set for an appearance before a parole board panel on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012, the eve of his 70th birthday.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP

Linda Deutsch|October 4, 2012

A California parole board panel has recommended parole for a Charles Manson follower who has been imprisoned for 40 years.

Bruce Davis, convicted with Manson and another man in two murders unrelated to the infamous Sharon Tate murders in 1969, appeared before the panel on Thursday, the eve of his 70th birthday.

It was his 27th parole hearing and was held at the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo, where Davis is imprisoned.

A parole board determined in 2010 that Davis was ready for release, but then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed the decision citing the heinous nature of the crimes. Gov. Jerry Brown has the final say on decisions by the current parole board.

Davis has been in prison since 1972 after being convicted in the murders of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea.